Shops at Sharp End, a retail incubator for small business owners, is set to close at the end of June due to grant funding running out.
The brick and mortar storefront opened in 2024 to help connect local entrepreneurs with Columbia residents, following the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We found that back after COVID, the retail industry, just in general across the community, was really struggling," Central Missouri Community Action Executive Director Darin Preis said. "We wanted to give retail entrepreneurs an opportunity to practice their trade, have a very low cost of entry and try out their ideas."
The retail incubator started as an idea from the Central Missouri Community Action and was created with the help of the Boone County American Rescue Plan Act funding.
"We got $397,000 from the county," Preis said. "It was a three-year grant that is wrapping up here at the end of June."
Central Missouri Action, Missouri Women's Business Center, The District in downtown Columbia, and Regional Economic Development Inc. partnered together to make the retail incubator space what it is today.
Missouri Women's Business Center Director Jayme Prenger said she anticipated that Sharp End would receive an extension until September to keep the store open, but that fell through.
For the past four years, Prenger has worked with entrepreneurs to offer resources such as business coaching, developing marketing plans and workshops to help grow their network.
"That was just a space for them to have to be able to have a storefront to be able to test the market ... in real time, but the coaching piece and the training and the workshops that's something we do every single day," Prenger said.
Prenger said one of her main priorities when helping entrepreneurs is teaching them financial literacy.
"Our program is all about building a strong foundation, and so that's why the financial education is a huge piece of what we do, because if you don't know your numbers, that success rate goes down significantly," Prenger said.
The Shops at Sharp End was not meant to be a permanent storefront space, but a development program entrepreneurs can graduate from.
Steep & Bloom Tea blossoming into a new retail space at Serendipity. A booming speciality tea business in Downtown Columbia is expanding to a new location after a year of growth.
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Christa Holtzclaw was a participant in the program and expanded her business, Steep & Bloom Tea, to a new space in February. She said the shops closing will be sad for the community.
"Any time resources are lost, especially for small business that are trying to get off the ground and start, it's a bummer," Holtzclaw said. "A retail incubator like the Shops at Sharp End being here is a huge opportunity for folks, and so if that opportunity is lost, I do think it would be pretty sad."
Holtzclaw said she hopes the city works to bring back the program for future business owners.
"Especially for businesses that don't have all of the same access, I think it's really great and I hope that they find a way to revamp that program," Holtzclaw said.
Franky Karmen, an entrepreneur who sold her clothing and cosmetic line at the Shops at Sharp End, said the space was not only a place for her to connect with the community on a deeper level, but also a space for "the small business people to present themselves in a polished platform."
Karmen has been at the Sharp End for three years and said the retail incubator gave her new opportunities, exposure and chances to collaborate with other entrepreneurs.
"We just needed a place that we can say is ours, and regardless of who owns it or who's running it, (it gave) the opportunity not just to me but to the next generation," Karmen said.
Karmen said the loss of the space will not just be unfortunate for her but also the next generation, like her daughter who one day wants to own a business.
"We need something that is actually structured for the next generation of entrepreneurs," Karmen said. "They need something that can be like, 'OK, let's make our mistakes here and learn from it and grow from it and then be ready to stand on our own.'"
For the past several months, Prenger said entrepreneurs have gone through a transition program called "Branding Matters," meant to help business owners after the doors close. Entrepreneurs were partnered with photographers for headshots and product pictures to build a marketing plan and develop a plan for future opportunities.
Although the retail incubator is closing, Prenger and Preis said they are not going anywhere and will still be a resource to Columbia entrepreneurs.
"We are still here and I also know that REDI is still there," Pregner said. "We've partnered well together over the last three years for this project, but I don't see that that is changing in the future. We're going to continue to work together to build stronger entrepreneurs here in Columbia."
A community discussion was held on June 4, and a follow-up discussion will be held next Monday on June 29, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the REDI Hub (500 E. Walnut St., Suite 105).
